M. Jost, Laure Barrot, Christophe Aubert, Brigitte Navez, Maarten Uittenbogaard, Mathilde Briard, Anita Suel, François Chaniet, Cécile Dubois-Laurent, Sébastien Huet, Didier Peltier, Sitti-Anlati Moussa, Elsa Desnoues, Valérie Le Clerc, Guillaume Chalot, Valentine Cottet, Latifa Hamama, Marie-Hélène Bouvier Merlet, Gerald Freymark, Miguel Medeiros Netto Ottoni, Wilfried Chevalier, Emmanuel Geoffriau, Institut de Recherche en Horticulture et Semences (IRHS), Université d'Angers (UA)-AGROCAMPUS OUEST, Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Centre Technique Interprofessionnel des Fruits et Légumes (CTIFL), Ets Vilmorin, Rijk Zwaan Breeding BV, Rijk Zwaan, Partenaires INRAE, Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MHESR), regional programme 'Objectif Vegetal, Research, Education and Innovation in Pays de la Loire' - French Region Pays de la Loire, Angers Loire Metropole, European Commission, and ministry of agriculture (Casdar-CTPS AAP grant) : C2015-10.
International audience; Renewed consumer demand motivates the nutritional and sensory quality improvement of fruits and vegetables. Specialized metabolites being largely involved in nutritional and sensory quality of carrot, a better knowledge of their phenotypic variability is required. A metabolomic approach was used to evaluate phenotypic plasticity level of carrot commercial varieties, over three years and a wide range of cropping environments spread over several geographical areas in France. Seven groups of metabolites have been quantified by HPLC or GC methods: sugars, carotenoids, terpenes, phenolic compounds, phenylpropanoids and polyacetylenes. A large variation in root metabolic profiles was observed, in relation with environment, variety and variety by environment interaction effects in decreasing order of importance. Our results show a clear diversity structuration based on metabolite content. Polyacetylenes, beta-pinene and alpha-carotene were identified mostly as relatively stable varietal markers, exhibiting static stability. Nevertheless, environment effect was substantial for a large part of carrot metabolic profile and various levels of phenotypic plasticity were observed depending on metabolites and varieties. A strong difference of environmental sensitivity between varieties was observed for several compounds, particularly myristicin, 6MM and D-germacrene, known to be involved in responses to biotic and abiotic stress. This work provides useful information about plasticity in the perspective of carrot breeding and production. A balance between constitutive content and environmental sensitivity for key metabolites should be reached for quality improvement in carrot and other vegetables.